


I Can See The Light, It Looks Like You

by anotetofollow



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Baking, Cooking, Dancing, Domestic Fluff, Endgame, F/F, Five Kisses Challenge, Flirting, Fluff, Gift Fic, Haven (Dragon Age), Herald's Rest, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Dragon Age: Inquisition - Trespasser DLC, Pre-Relationship, didn't know that was a thing but here we are
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:08:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24146383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anotetofollow/pseuds/anotetofollow
Summary: Tevi and Sera have kissed many times, in many places, for many reasons.
Relationships: Female Adaar/Sera, Female Inquisitor/Sera
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	I Can See The Light, It Looks Like You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [southwarden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/southwarden/gifts).



> title from [this](https://open.spotify.com/track/32dbzfAo5uJihJKzXlA2x5), a very great song that I recommend listening to

i.

She’s never where she’s supposed to be. When Tevi goes to the Singing Maiden in search of her, the table where she usually sits is empty; when she visits the row of targets where she trains there’s nothing there but the wind. Sera doesn’t let herself be found. She’s the one who finds you.

So when Tevi walks out of the war room one day and sees her leaning against the Chantry wall she’s not surprised. She has grown accustomed to the way the elf pops up in unusual locations. In the apothecary, the catacombs, on the roof of her quarters, once. Each time Tevi is pleased to see her, like spotting a wildflower growing through a cracked paving stone.

“You busy?” Sera asks, with no preamble.

In truth, there are a million things Tevi is supposed to be doing, but none of them are _technically_ urgent. “Not really. Why?”

“Want to talk to you.” From the tone of Sera’s voice Tevi guesses this is important, though whether she’s in trouble or not is harder to tell.

“Okay. Talk away.”

Sera abruptly walks off, as she sometimes does, and Tevi has to jog a few steps to catch up with her. She heads out of the Chantry and down towards Haven proper, her breath making clouds in the air.

“What you did,” Sera said. “The other day. When we were out near Redcliffe. On that farm.”

“Uh,” Tevi thinks back. They’d spent a good two weeks camped out in the Hinterlands, sealing rifts and running errands and generally, according to Cassandra, wasting time. She isn’t sure which specific event Sera is referring to. “What did I do again?”

“Helped the bloke with the horses.” She’s still walking, and if she has a destination in mind Tevi can’t work out what it is. “And his people. Wolves and watchtowers and that. Why’d you do it?”

“Ah.” More criticism of her performance as Herald, incoming. “Look, I know it wasn’t exactly our top priority. But it needed doing, and we were there, so… why not? It was an easy fix.”

Sera pulls up short, turns to face her. “Exactly,” she says, with feeling. “See a problem. Solve a problem. Not for the lords either. Just people.”

“Wait, hang on,” Tevi frowns, tugging at her horns. “Are you mad at me? I can’t tell.”

“No, stupid,” Sera laughs. “I’m saying, there you go, well done. Wasn’t sure about you at first. I mean you’re… woof. But being fit doesn’t make you worth trusting. This does. Keep on like that and I might not regret coming.”

There’s about a dozen things in that statement that Tevi needs to process. She blinks, tries to focus in on the one that seems most important. “Do you regret joining the Inquisition?”

“Dunno yet,” Sera says. “Too soon to say, innit? But good feelings so far.”

Maker, this might be the first time anyone has actually _complimented_ her performance as leader. “Thanks,” she says. “Everyone else seems to think I’m doing a crappy job.”

Sera sticks her tongue out. “ _Everyone else_ cares about building an army and keeping the posh tits happy. Them having shit priorities doesn’t mean you’re shit.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

“Start thinking then. They’re going to try and make a hero out of you, you know that?” Her eyes turn suddenly serious. “It’s happening already. Herald of Andraste, go there, do that, hold this. You need to decide if you’re going to do as you’re told or not.”

Tevi pulls a face. “No pressure, then.”

“Just keep helping,” Sera says. “You’re good at it.”

Then she stretches onto her tiptoes, grabs the front of Tevi’s shirt and pulls her down. Sera’s lips bump more than brush against her cheek, rough and clumsy, warm on wind-chilled skin. The gesture comes as such a surprise that Tevi can do nothing but stand there, blinking, as Sera releases her grip and walks away.

For months she’s been looking for something to motivate her, to make this whole effort seem worthwhile. As Tevi lifts her fingers to the place where Sera’s lips just touched, she wonders if she’s found it.

ii.

You don’t realise how rare the good days are until you have them. A battalion of Inquisition soldiers returns that evening from the Western Approach, having successfully routed Venatori forces making their way into central Orlais, and several of Josephine’s trade deals have begun to bear lucrative fruit. Tevi feels almost guilty for how much everyone is congratulating her — she didn’t do any of it herself, after all — but she’s not about to pass up an evening’s celebration.

There’s been a tension over Skyhold ever since they arrived, the grief and fear from Haven clinging to its inhabitants like smoke after a fire, and today is the first time it breaks. Cabot brings the good stuff up from the cellar, Maryden tunes her strings, and within a few hours everyone is well and truly drunk. There’s an egalitarian feel to the tavern tonight, as Tevi’s advisors and their visiting nobles mix readily with Inquisition soldiers. All the tables are full, and before long people are sprawling on the hearth, sitting on the balcony with their legs hanging through the slats, leaning against the walls and each other.

Tevi isn’t sure who starts the dancing — one of the Chargers, she thinks — but soon there floor is whirling with linked arms, kicking feet and spilled beer. She gets dragged into it too, somehow, and while she’s not much of a dancer she’s had enough ale not to care. There’s no artifice here, no skill, just a room full of folk feeling hopeful for the first time in months. The energy of it is infectious, leaving Tevi light-headed and laughing, a feeling too bright to be drink alone.

She spots Sera leaning by the fireplace, watching her, a smile teasing the corners of her lips. There’s something growing between them, Tevi knows that now. For a while she wasn’t certain; Sera’s sly looks, her idiosyncracies of speech, the occasional flares of affection, all could have easily been misconstrued. But they’ve been spending more time together since they arrived at Skyhold, and Tevi has seen Sera’s walls begin to come down.

They look at each other across the tavern for a moment. Tevi feels her heart twist behind her ribs, and whether it’s the ale or the music or the giddy atmosphere of the night she can’t say, but a sudden wave of confidence surges in her.

She walks up to where Sera is standing, puts her hand out. “Dance with me.”

“You what?” Sera snorts. “No. I don’t. No.”

“You think qunari mercenaries make a habit of doing the saltarello?” Tevi smiles. “I’m embarrassing myself already. Trust me, you won’t look any worse.”

“It’s not that, yeah I just… don’t.” Despite her protests, Sera doesn’t look unhappy to have been asked. There’s a flush across her throat, half-hidden by her kerchief.

“Okay,” Tevi shrugs, starts to turn away. “If you insist…”

“ _Alrightthenfine_.” Sera grabs her hand, fingernails digging sharp against her palm. “Try not to step on me, yeah? Like my toes not-broken.”

Tevi laughs as she pulls her into the middle of the tavern floor. “I’ll do my best.”

It’s not dancing really, the way they move against one another, Sera’s head pressed to her shoulder and her arm loosely around her waist, Tevi spinning her out of time with the music. They laugh more than anything, bumping into the revellers and the pillars and each other, all sharp elbows, sharp tongues. Tevi feels intoxicated with it. Sera’s body is warm against hers, the grip on her hand vice-like in its tightness. When she looks her Sera grins, showing teeth, blue eyes crinkling.

Then the song is over and everyone stops moving at once, scattered applause and drunken cheers filling the room. Tevi is breathing hard, still laughing quietly to herself.

“Okay,” Sera says. “Maybe that wasn’t so bad. Maybe.”

“I’ll take maybe.” Before Tevi knows what she’s doing she has lifted Sera’s hand to her mouth, is pressing her lips against the knuckles.

Sera colours immediately, her eyes going very wide. “Leave off.” Her giggle is high, a little manic. “What are you doing?”

Tevi shrugs, letting her hand fall. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do when you dance with someone?”

“I don’t frigging know,” Sera says. “Shit. You’re ridiculous.” There’s nothing but affection in the words. She looks up at Tevi, shakes her head. “Right. Drink time. Want one?”

“Of course,” Tevi says.

Tevi watches her as she walks to the bar, when she thinks no one’s looking. And so she sees when Sera holds her hand out, examines it carefully, then lifts it gently to her lips.

iii.

“Does baking always take so long?” Sera is sitting on the table in the centre of Skyhold’s kitchen, swinging her legs.

Tevi looks up from the dough she’s kneading. “Does if you do it right.”

“And this is fun for you?” she asks. “Getting all covered in flour and surrounded by food you can’t even eat for hours?”

“It is, actually,” Tevi says. “It’s been a long time since I had access to a proper kitchen. On the road you’re pretty limited to what you can cook over the fire. Not much opportunity for pastry.”

“Why’d you ask me here, anyway?” The elf smiles and Tevi’s heart skips. It has been months now, since the two of them began their relationship, but seeing Sera look at her like that still makes Tevi’s knees weak.

“Well,” Tevi says, scattering another handful of flour on the board. “After the pride cookies incident I thought we could try something else. Something that actually tastes good.”

“What are these then?” Sera asks. “Envy pies? Greed cakes?” She leers. “Lust biscuits?”

Tevi laughs. “No, but now I need recipes for all of those. These are… I think they’re called hearth buns? They sell them everywhere in the Marches, especially in winter. The company spent a month in Tantervale one year. I must have eaten about a million of them.”

“How’d you learn to make them?”

“I didn’t,” Tevi shrugs. “Figured I had enough experience to guess at the recipe. This is my first attempt.”

“What, so you’re experimenting on me?” Sera leans back in mock-affront. “I give you my pride cookies and you go ‘oh, I know what’ll make this better, untested baked goods that might taste like arse’.”

Tevi moves to push her hair out of her eyes, realises her hands are covered in flour, then does it anyway. “You almost sound like you don’t trust me.”

“No, I do trust you,” Sera says. “But what’s that thing people say? The proof is in the pudding? I’ll let you know once I’ve tried them.” She reaches out and scoops up a handful of candied peel from a bowl, tipping the sugared fruit into her mouth.

When she goes for seconds Tevi swats her away. “Hey, if you eat it all there’ll be none left for the dough. Then it won’t be my fault if it’s awful.”

“Why does it matter?” Sera says through her mouthful. “All goes in the same hole. All comes out the same hole.”

“Spoken like a true gourmand.”

Sera chews the peel thoughtfully, then swallows. “It’s sweet, yeah. You doing this. Thought watching you slap pastry around for hours would be dead boring, but your arms are all…” she wriggles in her seat “...yeah. Thank you.”

Tevi smiles, feeling a warmth that even the nearby oven can’t account for. “You’re welcome.”

“You do have flour all over your face though. Come here.” Sera grabs her wrist and pulls Tevi over, positioning her between her knees. She tugs her sleeve down over her hand and uses it to wipe the flour away, spending much more time on this task than Tevi suspects is necessary. “There. That’s better.”

“No. This is.” Tevi leans in to kiss her. Sera’s mouth is warm, her lips tasting of citrus and sugar. They linger there for a long time, indulging in each other, as they do more and more often these days.

When they eventually break apart Sera lets out a long, slow sigh. “Don’t care how good they are,” she says. “No cake’s better than that.”

“Don’t speak too soon,” Tevi says, folding what’s left of the peel into the dough. “I’m a really, really good cook.”

iv.

“Can you believe it?” Sera says, shaking her head. “All of that and then it’s just… over? We actually did it? No more hole in the sky, no more demons, no more Corype-tits trying to kill us every five minutes.” She laughs wildly. “Shit. When you stuck your hand out and he just— boom! Gone. Fuck off back to the Fade, arse-biscuit.”

“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet,” Tevi says. Despite the battle, despite the night of celebration, it still doesn’t quite feel real. She has been on her guard for so long that letting it down now feels almost wrong. And there had been that strange conversation with Solas, the one before he slipped away. Tevi tries to put it from her mind, to focus on enjoying the night for what it is. Everything else can wait.

“You saved the world, Buckles.” Sera sidles forward, something glinting in her eyes. “And I get to tumble with the woman who saved the world. How many people can say that, eh?”

“We did it together. You and me.” Tevi leans down to kiss her, melting into the touch. She realises then that there was always a part of her that had been convinced they would not survive this. Now that they have she feels more real suddenly, more alive.

“Right, come here,” Sera says, taking Tevi’s hand and leading her over to the bed. “Party’s great and all, but I’ve got better ways to celebrate.”

Tevi doesn’t protest. She lets Sera pull her down on top of her, kisses her deep as the elf’s clever fingers unfasten her buttons, her body warm and supple and eager against her. Once Sera has tossed the last of their clothes to one side she clamps her knees hard around Tevi’s hips and rolls her over. She’s surprisingly strong for such a small woman, her agility not limited to the battlefield.

“Wow,” Sera says, looking down at her. Several strands of blonde hair have fallen over her face, achingly beautiful in the lamplight. “I know I’ve said this before, but you really are fit.”

“I’m not tired of hearing it,” Tevi laughs.

“Yeah, well, that’s enough talk anyway,” Sera says. “I’m congratulating you, remember?” She kisses Tevi’s throat, teeth gently nipping at the skin there, then moves down across her collarbone, her chest, her stomach. Tevi reaches out to cup the back of Sera’s neck, feeling how the taut muscle shifts with her movements. This is all there is, now that it’s over. There is nothing left to do, nothing left to fight, only the two of them standing safe among the rubble. Against the odds, they have made it. Tevi can only think that this is a very good omen.

Then Sera’s mouth is at her hip and she can’t think at all, can only focus on the heat against her skin, the way that Sera peppers kisses along the inside of her thigh, moving ever-upwards, slow, teasing, her lips curled into a wicked smile.

“So, Inquisitor,” she says. “Want to stick together now all this is over?”

“I don’t want anything else.”

Sera nuzzles into her thigh, eyes half-lidded and happy. “Right answer.”

v.

Tevi steps forward and takes another swing at the training dummy. She misjudges her balance slightly, stumbles, her blade glancing off the arm of the straw man.

“Shit.” She rights herself, tugging the sword from where it has buried itself in the ground. Her back is slick with sweat, and she’s breathing hard after only an hour’s practice. A month ago this wouldn’t have even winded her.

Panting, she hefts the sword in her right hand and takes another swing. Better this time, but still not enough to do any damage. If the dummy was a real attacker she would probably be dead by now.

“Hey.”

Tevi turns to see Sera crossing the courtyard towards her. She looks a little worried, a thin line forming between her eyebrows.

“Hey,” Tevi says, leaning her sword against a nearby wall. “What’s up?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Sera says. “You look knackered.”

“I am. Adjusting to this…” she gestures to her missing arm. “It’s hard.”

“Yeah, no shit. You know that sword’s too big for one arm, right? Even an arm that size.”

“I just need to keep practicing.”

“No, you need to take a _break_.” Sera’s voice is firm. “You’ve been out here every day swinging that thing around. It’s not going to get better overnight, or grow back, so why the rush? Take a day. Take a week. You saved the world, _again_. No one’ll be angry if you have a holiday.”

Tevi sighs, putting her arm around her wife’s shoulders and pulling her close. “But I didn’t save it, did I? He’s still out there.”

“Not your problem. Not right now. Inquisition’s gone, over. Castle’s half empty already. Everyone else is fucking off, why not you?”

Why not, indeed? Tevi thinks about the question for a long moment. It’s not one she’s really asked herself yet, but it’s one that needs answering. “I’m good at this.” She nods to the greatsword leaning against the smithy wall. “Good at fighting. Good at protecting people. I’ve never been good at the leader stuff, but _that_ I could do. I thought that’s what it would be like, after the Inquisition disbanded. You working out where the problems were, me helping to fix them by doing the one thing I actually feel confident doing.”

“And that’s hitting people with big swords, is it?”

“More or less,” Tevi shrugs. “I make a mean raspberry friand too, but I’m not sure how that’s going to liberate the masses.”

“Hey.” Sera cups her cheek, stands on tiptoes to kiss her. “You do know that you’re more than that, right? Like, fine, don’t want to be in charge, all good by me, but you’re not just cannon fodder. You’re good and you’re clever and you think about things properly. We’re going to do this together. That’s what we promised.”

“I know.” Tevi leans her forehead against Sera’s. “I just thought I’d be able to bring more to the table. Who needs a warrior who can’t fight?”

“I do.” Sera’s voice was suddenly fierce, her hands gripping Tevi’s waist. “I don’t care how many arms you have. I mean, none would be a bit shit, and three would just be weird, but I can work with one. You’ll get used to the sword thing. The rest we’ll figure out as we go, yeah? Never liked plans, anyway.”

Tevi can’t help but smile. “Marrying you was a really great call.”

“I know, right? See what happens when you make stuff up on the spot. Good things.”

Sera reaches out and, with uncharacteristic tenderness, pulls back the loose left sleeve of Tevi’s shirt. It’s taking some getting used to, seeing her arm that way, missing cleanly above the elbow. When Sera presses her lips to Tevi’s shoulder it’s gentle, like a promise, like a prayer.

“Really love you,” Sera says.

Tevi looks down at her, at this woman made all of honey and fire, _her_ woman, and in that moment feels as though she could do anything she set her mind to, so long as Sera was with her. “Really love you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Lauren this is a thank-you present for Flagellant, the single best (and worst) thing that has ever happened to me, you are my hero


End file.
